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Becoming paranoid about work and QA

Posted By: Pauline on 2008-10-15
In Reply to:

I would like to find a job that I do not  have to proof report 2-3 times as when audits roll around  QA dings for more grammar than actual medial terms.  I would just like to sit and type. I have done this for 29 years, and we all make mistakes, but it is just rediculous anymore.   This company I work for now is so picky about even the smallest thing such as hyphens, comas, colons, etc that a few of MTs on the same account are becoming so paranoid that we are wasting too much time on each report and IM each other that we are not getting anywhere.   I have lost my rhythm with jumping around so much for each WT.  I love to do Op reports and have asked twice and that is about as far as it gets.  I used to enjoy transcription, but not anymore.  If I could afford financially to quit I would.  I used to do over 1200 lines a day, but not anymore.  I feel like I am back in high school English class.  Those days are gone.  Jobs are hard to find anymore with the economy the way it is, but at least I have something coming in, but just not enough and I still am working two jobs.  Just getting tired, frustrated, aggravated, you name it.  Thanks for letting me vent. 




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being paranoid about
I totally agree. I am always checking, double, triple checking things and worrying about commas and hyphens, account specifics and my line count shows it
No one was being PARANOID except the OP
Someone inquired if she were in India, no accusation, just a question. Someone else posted to ask if Curious had a problem with the OP being in India, to which Curious said not at all. Then a couple of other posters pointed out this is a board for AMERICAN MTs ONLY.

I'm failing to see where anyone except the OP is paranoid (or just defensive, which is probably more accurate since she indeed does not type as the usual American MT, at least not to my eyes).

I normally agree with your posts, Robin, by this time I'm failing to see why you are accusing other posters of being paranoid when the only one who has expressed ANY paranoia or accused others of being paranoid, etc., is the OP.

I think maybe you need to re-read the thread again. Even the one where she refers to you as being smart is oddly written.

Nope, I don't smell any paranoia here, just perhaps someone who detected an odd syntax, asked a question, and the OP blasted off into orbit.
I'm starting to get paranoid....
I've been with Medquist only a short time and have a good experience so far.  After reading some of these posts, though, I am becoming paranoid that things are not so good.  Someone please fill me in on what is going on.  I received the letter a couple of weeks ago from the CEO and just assumed it was a hand full of people involved with this lawsuit.  Now what is up???
off subject -am I being paranoid
I have some genealogy information on my computer and my grandfather had a very unusual first name and middle name-  today when I was going through my junk mail there was junk from someone with that  same name-  just kind of stopped me in my tracks I didn't open it ---but is that a coincidence  How does that happen - I should have better Spyware I guess  .  maybe Im just paranoid
And folks think I'm paranoid
If someone is sitting in a corner at Starbucks or the library or whatever on a laptop working, I'm not sure I see what the problem is. If you're that stringent about things, do you jump from your chair and throw your body across the monitor if you feel a family member approaching your work area? If a person isn't doing their work on external speakers and does not have a 26 inch monitor facing the room at large, I do not see there to be any more of a 'security' risk than there is at home.
I am american so someone is paranoid here. but sm
I still cannot get the proper search.. doing what everyone says. Try it. Search for TTS the company and you will get nothing new even though a month ago I saw a bunch of recent stuff. Where does it go?
Feeling paranoid but...
Has anyone ever felt as though they are set at a certain amount or say a cap per hour... if though I get .09/65  seems I never ever can make more than 14 or 15 hr... even if it is the easiest reports... I hope I'm just being paranoid!!  Just wondering if anyone else has thought this.
feeling paranoid...
Yes - I have worked for MQ since 1999 and have always been able to get 13000+ lines in a 2-week pay period (except for illness/vacation). Since Dec 08 it has been a struggle to approach and pass the 12000-line minimum, and now since half my reports are ASR, my line count has plummeted. Am not sure if perhaps this is one way to weed out the number of employees meeting the requirements for full-time with benefits. Did wonder if there was something off with line counts, but ws never able to get a response to that question, either by email or by phone. At this rate, I am going to lose my benefits, and my line count as it is disqualified me from full-time employment. From 200+ lines/hour to barely 131/hour. I'm frustrated and worried.
Boy, my husband is paranoid too but not to that extent - sm
If I were you I just tell him I am coming and that is that. You miss him, the kids miss him, etc. I find it hard to believe he has a girlfriend on the side already (its only been 14 days). It could be he is just very tired and wants his 1 day to himself, granted I am sure he has unwind time at night. But he shouldn't be that selfish about his free time since he has a family to consider. Can you get one of those video cams for the computer and at least have the kids be able to see their dad that way since he is unwilling to drive 5 hours to come home every 2 weeks, or unwilling to let you "get in harm's way" by driving to see him? You have every right to be pissed, but as suggested wait until you calm down, then ask him WHY and that it has to be a credible reason, not because he thinks there is too much traffic in the area, or some such crap like that. As I said, it is probably because he is tired, being selfish about his time off and (here's the big one) probably enjoying being by himself for the first time in a long time. I actually take my kids up to my dad's about 3-4 x a year to give him some down time, granted I never get any except for a few hours here and there when he takes them to the movies or something, but at least it is something!
I've encountered a strange situation and I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not.

I worked at the same company for 17 years, left in 2003.  Since then, I've been job hopping.  The problem is, any company can tell you anything they want about how good they are.  You can't really find out the actual workings of a place until you work for them.  So, I get hired, no problem, work for 3-4 months, and if I'm not happy, I start looking again.  Since 2003, I've tried 5 different companies.  I'm looking again. 


This is the weird part:  I always seem to get responses because I have extensive experience.  This time, I applied 4 places, got 3 responses, one of which I immediately ruled out after searching them on the company forum, so I applied and tested with the other 2.  Passed both tests, they were both "very interested" and passed me on to the next step.  Talked with the next person in line, received e/m from one "will call you by such-and-such a date."  The other, message on my answering machine, called them back, person was busy and would return my call.  Then.... nothing!  From either one.  It has been one week and no contact from them.  So I'm wondering if there is a blacklist of MTs.  You think it's possible ... names of MTs who have had more than a couple jobs in recent history and left after a few months?  I just really don't know what to think. 


One of the companies that I was really interested in, I even wrote to the last person I had spoken with and asked them to let me know if I was still being considered or not, because I had other offers to consider and needed to make a decision.  Nothing.  What do you think?


If this isn't the case, this is all extremely rude!  Don't you think?


 


 


 


You sound paranoid .."they are trying to take our supplements away". lol nm
..
You are one paranoid woman (?), rather obsessing over cherrypicking.

Her post had not the slightest to do with cherrypicking, you have egg on your face, and you SHOULD apologize. Though I doubt you will, as you get to hide behind your anonymity.


wife OMs are always trouble -- jealous, paranoid
poor hubbie lol

I am so paranoid of being replaced with a lower wage employee.
dd
I'm paranoid by nature, I guess. :) I agree that not all of the services out there are bad. SM

I've just not had much luck with any service and the one I spoke about above was the worst.  That was early in my career and I felt like I was pretty close friends with the supervisor and then to be treated the way I was treated, really just hurt.  Ever since then, I've distanced myself in my work life.  Business is business.


I will say, though, that I am a loyal person.  If I'm treated fairly, I will give 110%.  I think that's what happening these days in the MT world.  MTs aren't getting treated very fair and there are just bad feelings everywhere.  You're constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.  If a job offer is too good to be true, then it probable is too good to be true.  And now everyone is playing cover your behind and making sure contracts cover everything.  I just think MTs need to play hardball like the big companies.  If you are working as an IC, you should have a ready made contract for whatever service you contract with.  Why should you be the only one signing rights away?


I've also had the opportunity to read the contract between a big service and one of their hospital clients.  The line rate that this particular service charged was mind boggling.  I don't feel bad about stealing accounts away from services like that.


You can go to BioLife website and read that I think, and no you do not sound paranoid! nm
xxx
I keep the minimum amount of cash in the bank. I may sound paranoid but I fully

there to be locked up.  The banks are scampering around if you notice.  They have written notices that they can raise your interest rate to 28% or more for just about no reason on the credit cards.  I think they have let way too much money borrowed out be on the books, and now the little man is having to pay either with money, or his financial credit. 


If you read about GOLD, gold is selling for a lot, all over the world, even in this supposed stable time.  That's a sign they say that things aren't as steady as the powers that be want you to believe.


For CURIOUS: You are not curious, you are paranoid and a sociopath
Are you referring to the sentence

'And HOW to you put a marker?'

where I typed a 't' instead of a 'd'?

It was just a TYPO!

I am an American MT!

It is so pitiful how PARANOID SOME American MTs have become, ESPECIALLY THE OLD ONES, fearing for their jobs and being afraid of getting the boot.

Trying to be 'expert linguists,' sniffing out various dialects, detecting some Indian hints, whereas they most probably live in rural areas or in cities with a population of 1,000 inhabitants.

So sad, so sad, what has become of the MTing profession?

Now, CURIOUS, start nitpicking my post.





I get my work from an FTP site that they load the work to, however I don't have pool work so to
speak, but I tell them how many minutes a day I want.  The work is generally put in my box by 5 pm every day, then I have until 10 am the following day for some priority work, or 3:30 pm for the rest, so TAT is not too bad. I would like to work less at night though, but I working on that. My downside is I do not get the same dictators day to day, there are a few I do on a semi-regular basis though, some generate great lines but take longer to do that other doc's and are not "money-makers", I also do not get paid for spaces so that hurts a bit too.  This is WP5.1 too.....so very antiquated but that is what the hospital uses, so not much choice there. But I understand what you mean about the C-phone. I was just doing another job with C-phone recently...they incidentally did not tell me how to get off of the system, which was very simple.  I'd finish a job, then hit stop and hangup if I wanted to get off or quit working.  That is what you need to do if you want to sleep, eat, etc.  Don't feel guilty, do what you signed up for, believe me they watch the pools and will get others to do the work you don't finish.  If they get on your case remind them that you are only PT and only want 500 lines a day, etc.  It's not worth killing yourself over.  Good Luck.
You go by your schedule and have no work. Everytime I get on to work, there is always work.
x
Then you would have no life at all except work, work, work if you did that. I wouldn't do it. nm
.
Same thing with nationals. You work all the time to keep the account caught up when others dont work
and then when they decide to put a whole lot of extra people on your accounts and run you out they could care less about how much you worked.
Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
steady work...gearing up to start new account....but there was no work on Tues as it was a holiday
Be patient with your eyes open....
I work for Warminster at MQ and I am sick to death of being jerked around with no work all the time.
I would like a job where I can depend on the work and it does not seem to be in this office of MQ.
Speaking of offshoring MT work, who does not directly send work offshore?
Just curious.  Has anyone got a list of companies who do not send work offshore?  Precyse?  MQ?  Spheris? 
Becky you work in a great place. With no one hovering, I bet you get a lot more work done w/o agoniz
wants what. The only people qualified to do QA on my reports are the dictating doctors and the rest is just pure waste of money and time. If I have a question fine. But this random QA bites and hurts everyone. BTW, I don't have random QA for those who seem to think I may have an ax to grind. No dog in this fight. Just common sense.
Good. Why dont you send some our way. What office do you work for so I can call and get your work.
:
Before needing to work, I did volunteer work through the Junior League where I am from in Texas. lm

Junior League was like a full-time job sometimes, but I loved it. Now that I have to work, even though it is from home, I still volunteer through my son's school.  I am a school teacher in my previous (pre-MT) life, so I volunteer my tutoring services for children who need the help beyond what the schools are able to provide but whose parents cannot afford to pay for private tutoring. I also know how you felt about being afraid.  I was strangely afraid before I joined the Junior League.  It was just the unknown. But I was SO blessed by being able to help.  Honestly, I am sure that it helped me just as much, if not more, than I helped others.  Go for it.  You won't be sorry.  (Just remember that you have to say NO when you have to say no, okay?  Remember that and you will be richly blessed by the experience!)


nm would you mind if I asked where you work and what type of work hosp, clinic ?
x
All I know is it caused the company I work for to be unable to do all work due today and the rest
:+
Just return the work, submit your bill, the scurry and find more work elsewhere. sm
They will never meet with you before next week. It is Thursday, already. Be prepared to sue for payment, because you will probably need to. But, most of all, find other work elsewhere, because I have a feeling this final payment will be a long time coming.
I work on Escription platform and the adapter didnt work for me. I tried it on my laptop though
and the foot pedal would just not play correctly with the adapter. I think others have tried it and done it but it just didnt work for me.
IC sets their own hours. As long as the work is done by the deadline, you decide when to work.

Glad I work somewhere where you cannot cherrypick....our work is divvied out by minutes and - sm

the office manager (who does not normally transcribe) dishes out the work, so some days are easy, others are a mix.  So no cherrypicking is possible.  You type up what is given to you, period.  She will alternate the tough one's out so no one person gets him/her all the time unless they want him/her and are used to that doc, or everyone gets a little piece, etc. There are days when I ask for easy work (tired, chemo day, Jen sick, or a lot going on, etc.) but not often, generally I get a mix but they all get easier the more you do them.  I am not working as much as I should be of course, every week is different here so I adjust my limited work schedule accordingly, so sometimes it hard to get better at certain docs.  I used to have a lot of blanks with the Trauma ER unit, but I have been doing that a lot lately and now and very good at it, still a time consuming account but at least I am improving. -----------------------  But I believe the OP was stating she did it to clear out the log, not to make more lines, and only when she was asked to do so.  At an old job I had #s meant everything, everyday we would get report (2=4 x a day) of the backlog, and emails pleading us to work, work, work.  The QA rules sucked  (MQ probably is basing their new plan loosly on this one), however we did not get penalized, just chewed out if you sent in too much work to QA (over 5%, and was 80% ESL), I would imagine eventually fired if you continued to do it. They were a great place to work for until they re-organized....it all went downhill from there.  This is why I prefer smaller MTSOs, it's not all about the #s, yes, they want production too but at least it's not so cut-throat. 


i used to work for a company that divided the work types up and i loved it. sm
there were only 4 of us working a major teaching hospital. someone was assigned surgery, different assigned discharges, different admits, etc. we all had the backup work type in case the original assignee wasn't available and were cross trained. it made us much more efficient, ability to get used to dictators, set macros, and in the long run we were all much happier.
Used to work in Cooperstown, NY - and on the way to work is a huge turkey farm
It made me never want to eat turkey again - seeing them all cramped up against the fence and cages, packed tightly, no room to move. Actually, it made me want to do some harm to the farmer who found this acceptable.
Do not work for Amherst if you can work for any other office in MQ. It is terrible. They overload
accounts terribly. We are always running out of work or need to have 8 or 9 backups to get lines in. This is the way it is. There may be a few out there that it is different but I do acute care and was just transferred there along with my office and everyone in my office is in the same boat. Not a good deal at all.
An MQ recruiter told me yesterday if work is low they "cut off" the work

SEs are doing it.  She also told me that it is written in MQ policies


that MQ can let go EMPLOYEES without notice (I'm not saying statutory employees here, I'm saying employees).


 


You're lucky they work for you. I've never gotten a refill to work right, ever.
x
Has anyone breast fed while trying to work at home, can you do this and still work full time?
It seems like the more literature I read on the subject, the longer it seems to take, especially in the beginning when you are breast feeding every two hours, or does it really just depend on the baby?
HAHA! Yes! I have those daily! But it's not really work as I work nights, it's little things l
turning on the pool filter in the morning and then in the afternoon running out there because I thought I forgot to turn it on. Or preheating the oven and then 5 minutes later saying "shoot! I forgot to preheat the oven!" It's really bad. And I'm only 31. I'm not 90!

I don't know if dementia or Alzheimer's runs in my family, but this could be a sign of something to come. Or as my husband says - you jut don't pay attention to much. He's probably right!
I work Sun.-Thurs. normally and will work on Fridays to get Sunday off if I need it. Works
s
The company I work for said cable phone wouldn't work, just FYI.
nm
Easy to work with. You can look up old reports. Your own word expander will work
s
I just work with ShortHand minimized. Smarttype doesn't work the same way? nm
s
Work for 1 hour, then count your lines of the completed work - sm
either check you total characters in word (with spaces) then total them all up and divide by 65, and you get your total lines per hour. 10,000/65 is 153 lines. Or if you have a line counting program us that to figure you count, either way will work quite well. Maybe do it a few times and then figure an average over 3 hours or something like that, it will vary with the ease/difficulty of the work you are doing.
Sounds like where I work. Everyone morning I wake up to not enough work. I'm quitting
This has been going on for a few months so I don't know if they have overhired or just sent a lot of it to India. I just know I can't sit here everything day waiting until "volumes build up." I'm looking elsewhere.
The state told us that MTs are employees because we they work in our system and do the same work as
maybe you can work for a company in another state.
the hospital I work for already has started to implement this and lessen our work
I see it every single day... they are going to EMR... meaning the doctors simply use a template already in the computer and check boxes or something... The doctor's office i GO TO actually does this too. This is why it creates tech jobs to create those templates and takes AWAY MT jobs because the doctor is no longer dictating, they are just pushing little buttons or checking boxes straight into the computer.

Personally I still think that is more time than the doc wants to take but whatever, i dont see how generic charts are good, what happened to detailed information...

But this is definitely how i see it going along. Maybe not everywhere, but plenty of places are going to go to this, it's all about saving money now isn't it???